Former Bachelor Winner Opens Up About Miscarrying Twins in a Painful Post

By Perri Konecky

A post shared by Vienna Girardi (@viennag) on

At just 18 weeks pregnant, former Bachelor winner Vienna Girardi suffered a miscarriage of her twin daughters and is opening up about it in a heartbreaking post, which she says is "the hardest thing I have ever had to write." Vienna shared that on Aug. 3, she went to her doctor and learned that her baby girls were suffering from Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), a disease of the placenta in identical-twin pregnancies in which essential nutrients are not being equally shared by both twins. The disease can sometimes be fatal.

"They said that it did look like it had improved over the last week though," she wrote in the emotional Facebook post. "Unfortunately, that was not the case and that evening my water broke due to the amniotic sacs rupturing. I spent the next two days in the hospital trying everything to save them."

Vienna's doctors told her she had to deliver her babies immediately — even though she was only 18 weeks pregnant — because there was a risk to her and her babies' lives. "They also said that there was a very slim chance, under 5 percent, that the babies could survive and the fluids in their amniotic sacs replenish themselves. So as any mother would do I did everything to save them, but their hearts stopped beating on day two, which is also when I went into a septic shock with 104 fever," she wrote.

"My little angels went to Heaven on Aug. 5 and I was rushed into the OR for emergency surgery and was in the ICU for four days," she continued.

During these few days in the ICU, Vienna was left heartbroken and confused as to why this happened to her and her little girls. When a doctor asked Vienna if she would consider donating her daughters to science for research on TTTS and how to prevent it, she agreed.

"This was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my life but I knew my little girls were in Heaven already and the pain I feel I would never want any mother to ever feel," she wrote. "RIP My Sweet Angels. Your mommy will never forget you and I loved you both with my entire heart."

Vienna starred on the ABC reality show in 2010, after which she was engaged to Jake Pavelka for a few months. Our thoughts and prayers are with Vienna during this difficult time.